Over the past few decades, consumers have been taught that cholesterol is almost the main enemy of mankind, lying in wait for inattentive eaters in every piece of food.
The mass media explain to ordinary people that atherosclerosis develops due to it, leading to strokes, heart attacks and other diseases of the heart and blood vessels. It came to the point that many people began to consider this substance as almost a poison and the ration consisting of products in which this mortal enemy does not exist is ideal now.
Only now the assurances that a lot of cholesterol is bad does not mean that its lack or absence is a real paradise and a guarantee of excellent health.
Role in the body
About that substanceharmful, know almost everything, but very few people know how much it is necessary for the body. Meanwhile in terms of its usefulness can be correlated with vitamins - without it the normal functioning of a number of body systems is impossible.
From the chemist's point of view, cholesterol is an unsaturated alcohol, which it would be more correct to call cholesterol. In the human body, it is located in three forms:
- constituent element of lipoproteins;
- free form;
- ester.
The substance is produced by many tissues of the body, but 4/5 of the total volume synthesizes the liver .It also receives most of the substance used with food. There is cholesterol in various tissues, but most of all( 1/5 of the total volume) is mainly found in the spinal cord and brain, entering the membranes of membranes covering the nerve cells and processes that are located there.
In addition to maintaining the membrane structure and cell strength, its ability to survive, cholesterol actively participates in many internal processes occurring in the body:
- takes part in the synthesis of cholecalciferol( vitamin D3);
- protects intracellular structures from free radicals;
- is needed by growing children for the full development of the nervous system and brain;
- launches a chain of progesterone production, the subsequent transformations of which lead to the production of hormones responsible for the development of sexual characteristics and growing up;The
- liver uses it to produce bile;
- is involved in the protection of red blood cells from hemolytic poisons;
- helps regulate cell permeability.
Click on the picture to see it in full size.
If cholesterol is not enough, then:
- decreases the production of steroid hormones in the adrenal cortex, estrogens and androgens;
- in men there is a decline in sexual activity;
- in women often comes amenorrhea;
- often develops osteoporosis;
- develops depression, aggressive behavior, propensity to suicide, melancholy, especially in old age;
- reduced intellectual ability.
Blood cholesterol is transferred by complex proteins with lipids in the composition( lipoproteins).About a fifth of it is transferred by high-density lipoprotein( HDL) , easily moving through the blood and not clogging the arteries.
But low-density lipoprotein( LDL) carries about 65% of the substance and, presumably, they are related to heart and vascular diseases.
Useful video about bad and good cholesterol in blood lipid analysis, as well as about its role in the body:
Normal level in children and adults: age table
Average adult need per day - 1.5 g , regardless ofsource of intake( internal or external), approximately 2/3 is synthesized by the body and only the remaining third comes from food.
Table of cholesterol norms in blood by age in children, adult women and men :
What causes cholesterol in the blood? The concentration of the substance in the blood serum depends on: - of the presence of ingested and bile cholesterol in the ileum;
- its concentration in the gallbladder;
- activity of biosynthetic substances;
- its rate of admission with bile in the 12-colon.
Causes of increased cholesterol in the blood:
- heredity;
- physical inactivity;
- smoking;
- obesity;
- the presence of certain diseases( eg, hypothyroidism and diabetes);
- stress.
Causes of cholesterol lowering:
- is mainly a method of pharmaceuticals, leading to a decrease in the concentration of the substance in the blood( for example, estrogens);
- blood poisoning;
- hyperthyroidism;
- diet with food restriction;
- carbohydrate nutrition with low fat content;
- heredity;
- tuberculosis;
- severe burns;
- poor digestibility of food.
Communication with heart and vascular diseases
The Framingham study of the heart, which lasted more than 65 years, helped in its time to determine the main factors of the development of heart and vascular diseases, in which three generations of participants participated. Already the first reports showed that increases the risk of developing coronary artery disease( coronary heart disease) twice when compared with those who have less than 1.0 mmol / l of cholesterol( CH) in the blood to the upper limit of the norm. And this is relevant for all ages.
Blood cholesterol has been recognized as a completely suitable marker for predicting the possibility of developing an ischemic heart disease .Increased at a young age, LDL cholesterol reflects the likelihood of developing CHD in adulthood. With the same deviations, the development of atherosclerosis also begins.
And vice versa - the higher the level of HDL cholesterol, the less susceptibility of IHD and atherosclerosis. By and large, the amount of substance present in the blood is not so important as the ratio of LDL to HDL.
When and why additional studies are prescribed for
The main indicators for conducting a blood test for the presence of cholesterol are atherosclerosis, liver problems, obesity, endocrine, renal and pancreatic diseases, cardiovascular diseases.
If an abnormal substance content is detected in the blood, you should look for the cause of the abnormality and conduct an examination for illnesses:
- Assay for thyroid hormones - with its hyperfunction, the cholesterol level in the blood is much lower than normal, and when hypofunction is much higher.
- The level of magnesium salts in the blood plasma - the index is inversely proportional to the cholesterol content.
Magnesium imbalance may indicate hyper- or hypothyroidism, pancreatitis, dehydration, renal failure, and a number of other ailments.
- When the female sex hormone estradiol is deficient, the cholesterol level rises and vice versa. Imbalance of the hormone may indicate infertility, PMS, osteoporosis, maldevelopment of the genital organs, the threat of termination of pregnancy.
The opinion about the dangers of cholesterol is already recognized as wrong, but this idea hardly makes its way to the consciousness of people, because it is beneficial to food producers.
Meanwhile, is a substance that the body needs, especially in children and adolescents - without it, bones will not grow and vitamin D will be synthesized, and cells will be poorly protected from free radicals. If the body has a balance of bad( LDL) and good( HDL) cholesterol, then it does not threaten heart disease, blood vessels and other problems.
This video clip details the myths and reality about cholesterol-containing products:
Knowing which cholesterol is considered healthy in children and adult women and men of different ages, you can easily control the content of "good" and the amount of "bad" toindicators in the analysis of blood remained at an optimal level.
Magnesium imbalance may indicate hyper- or hypothyroidism, pancreatitis, dehydration, renal failure, and a number of other ailments.
